1991/01/01 by Ariel Hurwitz · 2 citations
Social Sciences · #Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography #Criminology #Genocide #Law #Political science #Refugee #Sociology #The Holocaust
paper · doi:10.1093/hgs/6.1.17
openalex publication_date 1991/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
In late 1943, the American Treasury Department drafted a report calling for the creation of a special rescue agency for European Jewry. At the same time, several Congressmen connected with the ‘Bergson Boys’ introduced a resolution also calling for the creation of such an agency. On 16 January 1944, Treasury Secretary Morgenthau presented President Roosevelt with the Treasury report, and the President agreed to create the WRB, the first major attempt of the US to deal with the murder of European Jewry. What was the main cause for the creation of the WRB — the actions of Treasury, or the resolution in Congress? Those who claim that the Congressional resolution was the decisive factor assert that Roosevelt feared a confrontation with Congress over this issue. However, there is no evidence that such was Roosevelt's reasoning. On the contrary, Congress in those years clearly was both anti-refugee and passive to the plight of European Jewry. Such a Congress would hardly have fought the President over a rescue agency, nor would it have appropriated the necessary funds.